Song Commissions

Over the course of a decade, The Winterlings have focused our energy on a singular mission: to create great songs. We have produced four albums with 46 songs, and have told the stories of a Belizean chemist, a female Civil War soldier, a postman, a housefly, a foster child and countless others. Fathers, mothers, monks and ghosts. Wolves, cedars, oceans and mountains. The mythology of human beings and wild things dancing on a planet in the middle of a fathomless darkness, speckled with stars. And after our long work of mastering the art of song making, we are ready to tell your story.

We have created multiple commissioned songs and refined our process to several simple stages.

First, we talk. If a client wants to commission a song about a redwood tree they planted with their father, we journey, through conversation, absorbing details to put us into our client’s senses.

Second, using rough notes and recordings, we meditate until lyrics, melody and song structure emerge. A song is born!

Third, we record a one take (acoustic demo with vocals and guitar) and send it to our client. This stage is where we listen and incorporate client feedback to finalize the song.

Fourth, we produce and deliver the commissioned song to our client. This stage varies according to our client’s budget. For projects on a limited budget, a one take with guitar and vocals is the final, delivered work. But more often, clients hire us to create a fully produced, mixed and mastered, “radio ready” song. In this case we begin the production process which adds additional instrumentation (violin, electric guitar, bass, harmonium, piano, tambourine, drums…) and arrangement. In general, a fully produced, mixed and mastered song takes about six weeks of solid work, so it’s best to start early if the song is created for a date-dependent gift (wedding, birthday, anniversary).